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“Should I upgrade from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 7 for my office?”

The 90,000 fans who pack out Wembley Stadium for England matches bring more than just their voices and their optimism. Each fan tends to bring at least one connected device, creating a wireless environment that would cripple most enterprise networks within just a few minutes. 

How do high-density crowded areas handle their Wi-Fi capabilities?

Wembley Stadium is partnered with EE for their wireless infrastructure. During 2025, Wembley Stadium was upgraded to feature advanced connectivity, including 5G standalone (SA) technology and next-generation Wi-Fi capabilities. This means their network can handle high-density crowd demand. 

EE has heavily upgraded the network to support high-speed internet and reliable connectivity during major events. Key Connectivity Upgrades included:

  • 5G Standalone: In February 2025, EE launched a 5G standalone network at Wembley, providing increased capacity and faster speeds independent of 4G infrastructure.
  • Wi-Fi 7 Integration: As part of a 2025 technology upgrade, Wembley integrated Wi-Fi 7 to enhance connectivity.
  • Capacity Enhancements: The network upgrades allow fans to share and experience events with improved performance in busy areas. 

Wembley Stadium is committed to premier level digital infrastructure. They have a multi-year partnership with EE and the upgrades seen during 2025 ensure that stadium visitors can stay connected whilst attending matches and other events. 

What Wi-Fi and connectivity problems affect public venue operators? 

Public venues across the country face the same problems with business-critical wireless infrastructure. 

Football fans are no exception to the connectivity requirements people have come to expect when they are out and about. People want to be able to:

  • Have streaming capabilities
  • Share content to social media platforms including images and video
  • Place online orders
  • Access digital tickets
  • Pay for food, beverages and merchandise

When you have a lot of people all in one place, the network can start to struggle. As device density increases (along with guest expectations), older infrastructure like Wi-Fi 6 can start to buckle under the strain. 

To maintain a seamless guest experience, connectivity cannot fail. Unreliable Wi-Fi can have a massive negative effect on revenue, organic marketing opportunities and engagement. 

Embracing Wi-Fi 7 capabilities is just one solution to the issues facing venues, festivals, apartment complexes and offices throughout the UK.

Choosing to deploy next-generation, Wi-Fi 7 wireless technology instead of waiting for incremental upgrades could be just what your venue or office building needs.

Why does Wi-Fi 7 work well in high-density environments like offices?

We’ve banged on about Wembley Stadium in this article so far, but Wi-Fi 7 as a standard introduces capabilities specifically designed for all kinds of ultra-high-density environments, whether that’s a stadium or your office building. Environments that have historically defeated wireless deployments are now finding connectivity success in high-density settings with Wi-Fi 7.

What are the biggest advancements Wi-Fi 7 offers?

  • Multi-Link Operation (MLO)
  • Double the channel width
  • Increased QAM modulation and increased data rate
  • Speed improvements and low latency

Multi-Link Operation (MLO)

The most significant advancement is Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which allows devices to transmit and receive data across multiple frequency bands simultaneously. 

Previous Wi-Fi generations forced devices to choose a single band, creating bottlenecks during peak demand. MLO provides a single access point to dynamically distribute traffic across 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands, dramatically increasing aggregate throughput.

Double the channel width

Wi-Fi 7 doubles the channel width to 320 MHz from Wi-Fi 6E’s 160 MHz. 

Increased QAM modulation and increased data rate

Combined with 4096-QAM modulation (versus 1024-QAM in the previous generation), the theoretical maximum data rate approaches 46 Gbps. What does that mean in real terms? In a large-scale deployment, these advancements mean sustained multi-gigabit performance even when tens of thousands of devices compete for bandwidth.

Speed and low latency

Beyond mere speed improvements, Wi-Fi 7’s lower latency characteristics also enable applications that were previously impractical in high density environments, helping to overcome the issues and expectations outlined above. 

What companies are offering Wi-Fi 7 compatible network hardware? 

The enterprise WLAN market is a highly competitive one, with many companies offering different strengths for varying wireless deployment scenarios. Companies with a Wi-Fi 7 offering include:

  • Cisco
  • HPE
  • Aruba
  • Extreme Networks
  • Ubiquiti
  • Ruckus Networks

What are the operational returns of upgrading to Wi-Fi 7?

There are many operational returns of upgrading to Wi-Fi 7, whether you are providing connectivity for a stadium, event venue, warehouse, retail unit or office building. Returns on Wi-Fi 7 investment for your business could be seen in:

  • User productivity
  • Social media engagement / organic marketing
  • Real time inventory management
  • Mobile point-of-sale transactions
  • Security camera feeds
  • Staff communications 
  • Improved transaction speeds in retail environments
  • Analysis of device density to show user movement patterns and give insights into crowd flow and congestion points
  • Adjusting staffing to meet demand in real time

What organisations can benefit from Wi-Fi 7 deployment? 

Wi-Fi 7 deployment can impact businesses and organisations across all industry sectors where they are managing connectivity in demanding physical environments, including but not limited to:

  • Warehouses
  • Manufacturing floors
  • Hospitals 
  • University and college campuses
  • Convention centres
  • Shopping centres
  • Corporate headquarters
  • Office buildings 

These premises all share characteristics that can make wireless deployment difficult: 

  • Large footprints
  • Physical obstructions
  • Unpredictable user density
  • Business-critical applications competing for bandwidth

Wi-Fi 7 for Enterprise Networks

We began this article looking at stadium Wi-Fi, but the principles that govern that type of space also apply directly to other enterprises. IT leaders in all the environments mentioned above should:

  • Treat connectivity as foundational infrastructure rather than a discretionary amenity; every digital initiative depends on it.
  • Plan for peak demand rather than average utilisation, because network failures occur precisely when the most users need access.
  • Recognise the operational value of a robust network, which often exceeds the guest-facing benefits; the same infrastructure that serves visitors also powers point-of-sale systems, IoT sensors, security cameras, and workforce applications.
  • Prioritise vendors with proven expertise in RF-hostile environments, because access points that perform adequately in open office plans often fail in spaces with concrete, metal, or high human density.
  • View Wi-Fi refresh cycles as strategic investments with multi-year payback horizons rather than routine equipment replacements.

Don’t treat connectivity as an afterthought. Organisations need to deliver the experiences that modern guests, employees, and customers demand. Will you be deploying Wi-Fi 7 in your business? 

Get in touch with our Wi-Fi Experts at Geekabit

If you’re interested in Wi-Fi 7 for your business, then get in touch with us today. Our expert Wi-Fi engineers across London, Cardiff and the South Coast can carry out Site Surveys and provide Wi-Fi Planning and Design so that your deployment offers the best connectivity possible. 

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Wi-Fi 8 – The Smarter, More Stable Wi-Fi Standard

Can Wi-Fi 8 bring the stability of a wired network to wireless? Let’s look at handovers, coordination between wireless technologies, and the influence of AI.

Based on the upcoming 802.11bn standard, Wi-Fi 8 is purported to be smarter and more stable than it’s Wi-Fi 7 predecessor, instead of merely faster.

According to an announcement by Qualcomm, Wi-Fi 8 will respond to new needs in both home networks and business by focusing on reliability and consistency, even in poorer conditions. 

Qualcomm’s Vice President of Technical Standards Rolf De Vegt said;

“Wi-Fi 8 marks a fundamental pivot — moving beyond peak speeds to prioritize reliable performance in challenging real-world conditions. It’s designed to deliver consistent, low-latency and near-lossless connectivity even in highly congested, interference-prone and mobile environments.” 

Whilst the main design feature of Wi-Fi 7 is to maximize speed and bandwidth, Wi-Fi 8 will focus on stability of performance. In lab conditions, there were impressive results for Wi-Fi 7 speeds, however this is harder to replicate in reality within everyday environments like office buildings and residential areas. Wi-Fi 8 will provide stability even when faced with congestion, interference or multiple devices moving in real world environments.  

According to Qualcomm, Wi-Fi 8 plans to offer:

  • 25% higher throughput in challenging signal conditions such as blocks of flats
  • 25% lower latency at the 95th percentile of latency distribution
  • 25% fewer dropped packets when roaming between access points

Handover, What Handover?

Wi-Fi 8 will see the wonders of Single Mobility Domains. Traditionally, small interruptions during the handover process between access points are completely normal happenings. A major innovation of Wi-Fi 8 will mean that devices will be able to move between access points without any interruption or lag. Just imagine – Continuous, uninterrupted connectivity as you move throughout domains within a multi-storey office or large buildings where users (and their devices) are always moving around. 

Previous standards saw the edges of a network as a weak spot. Wi-Fi 8 will also bring improvements to this area. Technical adjustments in the optimisation of the physical layer of the protocol means that Wi-Fi 8 doesn’t just increase transmission power, leading to more stable performance even at low signal strength. 

Another improvement will see access points working together rather than separately. Wi-Fi 8 will enable the coordination of behaviour and sharing of information between access points in a network. This will help to reduce conflict on the radio frequencies and improve the efficiency of transmission time. Thus, Wi-Fi 8 will bring a smoother network environment for places with many users and devices for example, stadiums, schools or blocks of flats. 

Better Coordination Between Wireless Technologies

Research is being conducted to look at how radio systems such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ultra-wideband can work better together instead of causing interference. The use of multiple wireless technologies by a single device simultaneously (devices using a single antenna for multiple radios) is becoming more prevalent, making the need for better coordination between the technologies vital. 

Prevalence of AI Leading Wi-Fi 8 to Focus on Stability Instead of Speed

AI is placing a huge raw demand on networks, especially in terms of reliability and latency. 

We’re seeing an increase in prevalence of wearable AI, smart device embedded AI and autonomous AI. In order for AI systems to work effectively, they need to be able to pull from access edge or cloud based systems in near real time, making reliable connectivity vital.

The current Wi-Fi standard is struggling to support the abundance of AI use in everyday life. These struggles aren’t anything new – The ever increasing use of personal devices using wireless connectivity has been putting a strain on Wi-Fi networks for a while. 

With the evolution of smart homes, the size and scope of our networks has needed to expand quickly in order to support the number of devices used in our houses.Indeed, larger homes are requiring enterprise-grade networks in order to meet the level of connectivity people expect. 

Wi-Fi 8 and Medical Monitoring Devices

AI garners much of the attention when discussing Wi-Fi 8 and the need for stability over speed, however there is another prevailing need increasing in our homes and that is medical monitoring devices. 

Doctors are starting to rely on patients self-monitoring from home more and more. For the health of non-critical patients, these home-based options are a real life-line. Doctors can keep tabs on patients without the need for them to visit the practice as regularly. 

This is yet another area where network reliability and response time is imperative to enable doctors to communicate with patients via their home network, especially in potentially life-threatening situations. 

Will Wi-Fi 8 Bring the Stability of Wired to our Wireless Networks?

In the press release, De Vegt writes that they want Wi-Fi 8 to bring wireless networks closer to having the same reliability and responsiveness of wired infrastructure. Whether or not Wi-Fi 8 manages to get close to that ambitious aim we’ll have to wait and see. 

The Wi-Fi 8 standard is expected to be finalised in January 2028, so there’s still a little while to wait. You can read the full press release from Qualcomm here.  

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Will Wi-Fi 7 Replace Wired Ethernet?

We all want the best connection possible – Whether that’s wireless or wired. Here at Geekabit, we love all things Wi-Fi, but even we will admit when a wired Ethernet connection could bring more stability and reliability. 

The Wi-Fi cimmunity is all a-buzz with talk about Wi-Fi 7 and the latest improvements it will bring to the wireless world. But will it replace internet via wired Ethernet cables? Theoretically, Wi-Fi 7 should have a top speed that would make it a worthy opponent of LAN’s. But that wouldn’t be the case in all situations. 

Let’s take a closer look. 

What is Wi-Fi 7?

This next generation of wireless technology is well on the way. And with the promise of even higher data rates and lower latency than the current Wi-Fi 6 offering!

Wi-Fi 7 (or 802.11be to be technically correct), in comparison to Wi-Fi 6, will:

  • Use multi-band/ multi-channel aggregation and operation 
  • Deliver higher spectrum and power efficiency
  • Have better interference mitigations
  • Offer higher capacity density 
  • Have higher cost efficiency. 

As a result of the projected ability for it to support up to 30Gbps throughput, this seventh generation of Wi-Fi is also being referred to as Wi-Fi Extremely High Throughput. It will be approximately 3 times faster than Wi-Fi 6.  

How does Wi-Fi 7 work?

The Wi-Fi engineers over at IEEE are proving that there are still ways to enhance and improve Wi-Fi – Even since Wi-Fi 6. As we’ve set out above, Wi-Fi 7 will not only give another boost to Wi-Fi connectivity, but also significant improvements in performance whilst further reducing latency. 

But how? 

Wi-Fi 7 doubles the channel size

With Wi-Fi 7, we see the maximum channel size double, going from 160MHz to 320Mhz. This also means that the throughput is automatically doubled as well.  Not only that, but it’s more flexible too, enabling networks to run with either one channel (at 320Mhz) or two channels (each at 160Mhz). Therefore you can match the network to the requirements of your applications.  

Wi-Fi 7 doubles the number of MU-MIMO spatial streams

The throughout is also doubled via the available MU-MIMO spatial streams which increases from 8 to 16, again doubling what’s available. The connection is shared equally, dividing the bandwidth into separate streams using Multiple-user, multiple-input multiple output (MU-MIMO) technology.  

We tend to see quite a bit of congestion from multiple endpoints attempting to access the wireless network at the same time – But MU-MIMO helps to reduce this congestion. Not only that, but it supports bi-directional functionality. This means that the router and both accet and send data at the same time. Something that was limited to just downlink transmission with Wi-Fi 5! 

Wi-Fi 7 quadruples the QAM

Quadratic Amplitude Modulation (QAM) is increased with Wi-Fi 7 from 1024 to 4096. It is expected that this increase will enable the delivery of an additional 20% in throughput. It’s this that takes us from Wi-Fi 6’s 9.6Mbps to Wi-Fi 7’s 46Mbps. 

Wi-Fi 7 offers Multi-link operation (MLO)

The great thing about MLO is that devices can transmit and receive across all of the available frequency bands (2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz), simultaneously. What does this mean? 

  • It improves performance
  • It reduces latency
  • It boosts reliability
  • In IoT or IIoT environments, specific channels can have pre-assigned data flows based on the requirements of the application or device
  • Networks can be dynamically configured so that they can select the frequency band that has the lowest congestion in real time, sending data over that preferred channel

Wi-Fi 7 offers Multi-AP operation

The functionality available in current and previous Wi-Fi standards meant that each access point acted independently when accepting connection requests from endpoints and moving traffic back and forth to that endpoint. The Multi-AP operation with Wi-Fi 7 uses mesh technology to configure neighbouring AP’s so that they can coordinate with each, thus improving the utilisation of the spectrum and resources. Network engineers can use Multi-AP operation to program a set of APs to form a subsystem and accurately coordinate channel access and transmission schedules.

Time-sensitive networking (TSN) with Wi-Fi 7 

What is TSN? Time-sensitive networking is an IEEE standard to help increase reliability and lower latency. Wi-Fi 7 supports this TSN. It was originally designed to help reduce buffering and latency in Ethernet networks by using time scheduling. This ensures the reliable delivery of packets in real-time applications. 

Multi-RU and WI-Fi 7

Using OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access), Resource Units are assigned to individual clients to enable access points to communicate simultaneously with multiple clients.  Multi Resouce Units increase the spectrum efficiency, ensuring that traffic avoids any interference on congested channels.

Wi-Fi 7 and deterministic low latency 

Wi-Fi 7 will be able to support real-time applications like AR, VR and IoT due to the combination of the above technologies decreasing latency. In certain situations, for example some industrial automation applications, it’s important that there is not a wide variance in latency. Deterministic low latency with Wi-Fi 7 will be great for this – It means that it will not spike beyond a certain limit. 

What are the benefits of Wi-Fi 7?

You might be thinking that the current Wi-Fi standard is good enough for you and your business connection needs. But the thing is, the wireless traffic load is only going to grow year on year and over time, organisations are going to have no choice but to embrace (and need) digital transformation. So whilst what you have now may well be sufficient, it might not be the case in forever. 

We are all well aware that the business operations that were once done manually are now being done digitally. This also means that the amount of data we use and need to move is growing all the time. 

Digital transformation means that not only has paper turned digital, but processes that were once quite simple are now much more complex, interconnected with others and across multiple applications. 

The improvements and enhancements we will see with Wi-Fi 7 have been designed to accommodate the increased traffic and data we are seeing from digital transformation. 

So – Will Wi-Fi 7 replace Ethernet?

Perhaps the biggest gane changer when it comes to Wi-Fi 7 is that it could in fact replace wired Ethernet in certain circumstances. We’re thinking in offices where everything is all completely wireless, everything unplugged, IT staff could use Wi-Fi 7 instead of having ti run wires and cables through ceilings, walls and office space.  Pretty handy! 

We also talked about the speed of Wi-Fi 7 earlier. Theoretically the maximum speed is 46Gbps. Even in real-world estimates where we’re talking much lower speeds of 6Gbps, Wi-Fi 7 is still faster than Gigabit Ethernet. 

When it comes to comparing Wi-Fi 7 and Ethernet, it’s worth considering bandwidth and endpoints. Wirelessly, the bandwidth is shared among endpoints. With Gigabit Ethernet, each endpoint has dedicated delivery of gigabit circuits. 

Whilst this may sway you back towards Ethernet, don’t forget that wireless networks, particularly ones using Wi-Fi 7, can use multiple antennas and streams. With the meshing of AP’s  with Wi-Fi 7, it might be wise to test the real-world performance to analyse what is necessary for your environment. It can get quite complex, but is definitely necessary when designing and deploying a new network or updating your current malfunctioning one. 

There are tech experts that are expecting Wi-Fi 7 to be a strong contender to replace Ethernet connections for super-high-bandwidth applications. It’s expected that the advances we’ll be seeing with Wi-Fi 7 will make it a very attractive option for a broad range of devices, applications and industries. 

Here at Geekabit, our Wi-Fi experts think it’s a bit early to predict whether or not Wi-Fi 7 will replace Ethernet on a large scale for enterprise LAN connectivity. On paper there may be a chance, but the low-maintenance predictability of Ethernet may make IT teams hold off replacing it for Wi-Fi 7. 

Many IT departments already enjoy the best of both worlds, utilising a pre-existing Ethernet LAN with a wireless network added on top. We don’t see why Wi-Fi 7 and Ethernet can’t co-exist, with Wi-Fi 7 being the primary network and good old, trusty Ethernet in the background quietly waiting as a backup. 

Get in touch with our Wi-Fi Experts

If you are wondering whether you should repace your Ethernet cables with Wi-Fi, or the other way around, then do get in touch with our Wi-Fi experts here at Geekabit. We can help advise what would work best for you and get a network designed and installed for your individual needs. Let’s solve your Wi-Fi woes and get reliable internet into your home office! You can get in touch on 0203 322 2443 (London), 01962 657 390 (Hampshire) or 02920 676712 (Cardiff).

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